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Academic

Legal Profession Blog

Cover legal ethics, bar discipline, business practice, the tension between the bar and the academy, ethical theory, and comparative legal professions.
By Alan Childress, Mike Frisch, and Jeff Lipshaw

Post Frequency: 40.8/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:56:26

Option To Sue

Posted on May 14, 2009
The full text (citations omitted) of a decision today from the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department: Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard B. Lowe III, J.), entered October 29, 2008, which, in an action alleging...

Resignation No Basis For Reciprocal Discipline

Posted on May 14, 2009
A lawyer who had resigned from the Connecticut Bar while facing disciplinary charges was able to avoid reciprocal discipline in New York. The Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department held that "neither [his] resignation nor Connecticut's acceptance of the...

Suit Against Counsel By Opposing Party Dismissed

Posted on May 14, 2009
In a 71 page decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of claims against a law firm that had been instituted by a defendant in a suit that the law firm had filed. The case had its genesis...

Semper Fi

Posted on May 13, 2009
An Illinois hearing board has recommended a one year suspension with reinstatement conditioned on further court order in a case where the attorney had refused to participate in the disciplinary case. One of the counts involved the following conduct: United...

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From Utah With Advice

Posted on May 13, 2009
A Utah law firm may not provide credit counseling services to South Carolina residents without complying with statutory licensing requirements. The South Carolina Supreme Court held that an exemption in the statute for attorneys at law applies only to attorneys...

No Mitigation For Self-Suspension

Posted on May 13, 2009
The Oklahoma Supreme Court imposed a twelve month suspension of a relatively inexperienced attorney who had falsified billing and travel records, resulting in client payments in excess of the appropriate amounts. The attorney explained: ...[the attorney] stated that she did...

Honor Among Fee-Sharers

Posted on May 12, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department has held that an oral fee-sharing agreement between non-affiliated lawyers is enforceable in the courts: Plaintiff attorney alleges that he assisted defendants in a contingency fee case for which they...

GPS Installation Requires Warrant

Posted on May 12, 2009
The New York Court of Appeals has held that "the installation and use of a GPS device to monitor an individual's whereabouts requires a warrant supported by probable cause." The court found that the Appellate Division majority had erred in...

Moral Turpitude

Posted on May 12, 2009
The District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility issued a report last week recommending that David Safavian be disbarred for his conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude. Under D.C. case law established in the disciplinary case against Charles Colson,...

Pets As Property, Not Family

Posted on May 11, 2009
Claims brought by pet owners after two cats who were being treated for hypertension died shortly after taking prescribed medication were dismissed by the Vermont Supreme Court: This case presents two questions: first, whether noneconomic damages are available when a...

Tulane Ranks #2 Among U.S. Law Schools In Only Rankings Done By Student Surveys

Posted on May 11, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress So obviously the methodology is more valid than that of U.S. News & World Reports, which ignores consumer satisfaction and instead surveys the ... competitors' chair of their hiring committee??? What kind of statistical method is...

Better Late Than Never

Posted on May 11, 2009
An Arizona hearing officer has recommended a public censure and probation in a matter where the attorney had engaged in a sexual relationship with a criminal client without advising to seek new counsel or disclosing the nature of the potential...

First Signs of a New Equilibrium in Entry-Level Salaries

Posted on May 11, 2009
[posted by Bill Henderson, crossposted to ELS Blog] According to today's Am Law Daily, Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle announced that instead of deferring its 37 incoming associates for six months to a year, it is going to institute an intensive training...

From This Moment On

Posted on May 10, 2009
An attorney who has been on interim suspension since April 1999 was prospectively disbarred by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He had been suspended as a result of criminal charges involving multiple victims. In 2001, he was convicted of one count...

Henderson's Hierarchy of Blogging

Posted on May 08, 2009
[Posted by Bill Henderson, crossposted to ELS Blog] Regrettably, I have not posted a substantive blog post since Dec. 16, 2008. Although few things are more enjoyable than blogging (primarily because blogging relies heavily on reading and thinking), over the...

The Jackass Decision

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Louisiana Supreme Court has posted its opinion in the case where an attorney in a bitterly-contested case called opposing counsel a "jackass" in open court. Opposing counsel responded: "Your mother is a jackass." The first lawyer then grabbed the...

Employer Disbarred, Employee Denied Admission

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Louisiana Supreme Court disbarred an attorney who had facilitated the unauthorized practice of law by an unlicensed employee. The employee represented clients in depositions and participated in settlement conferences. The conduct took place after the employee had graduated from...

Pro Bono Attorneys May Receive Attorney's Fees

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has held that attorney's fees may be awarded in family law cases even though the legal services were performed by a non-profit legal services organization. The court concluded that important policy considerations weigh in...

Grain-Related Nebraska Misconduct Draws Reprimand

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Nebraska Supreme Court imposed a public reprimand of an attorney who had been convicted in federal court of the misdemeanor of making and delivering a writing containing a known false statement. The lawyer represented (and served on the board)...

The Invisible Hand Meets the Internal Point of View: The Strange Mish-Mash of Law & Economics

Posted on May 08, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Richard Posner published an eminently sensible analysis of the bursting of the credit bubble in the Wall Street Journal the other day (a prelude, I assume, to his new book, The Failure of Capitalism, which he...

The Coverup, Not the Crime

Posted on May 07, 2009
From the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio has imposed a one-year license suspension, with the final six months of that term stayed on conditions, against the license of Cleveland attorney Jeffrey F. Slavin for professional misconduct in....

Absent Class Member Denied Further Discovery Into Counsel's Files

Posted on May 07, 2009
The New York Court of Appeals has held that "the class counsel-absent member relationship is simply too unlike the traditional attorney-client relationship to support extending the Sage Realty presumption to absent class members." The presumption of the prior case was...

David Souter's Pen; FIU And The Sunshine Band

Posted on May 07, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress Two interesting stories (to me) around the web worth pointing to: (1) Chris Zorn at Empirical Legal Studies Blog shares his assessment of the brand of fountain pen traditionally used by David Souter. I have to...

New Encyclopedia Published on Islam, Part of Series on World's Religions

Posted on May 06, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress Frequent commenter Patrick S. O'Donnell passes along this link to purchase the new Facts On File Publishing volume, Encyclopedia of Islam, the newest part of its world's religions series. This volume's editor is Juan Campo at...

No Mitigation For Cocaine Addiction

Posted on May 06, 2009
The majority of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ordered that an attorney's license be annulled, with any reinstatement conditioned on restitution and satisfactory proof that his drug abuse is being treated and is under control. If so, reinstatement...

Perils Of Louisiana Bar Admission

Posted on May 06, 2009
The Louisiana Supreme Court decided three bar admission matters that provide insight into the operation of bar character and fitness requirements. The first matter involved an applicant's third petition for bar admission was denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court...

"An Emotionally Frazzled State"

Posted on May 06, 2009
An Arizona hearing officer has recommended that a consent agreement for a 30 day suspension followed by two years probation be imposed in a matter in which the lawyer represented the husband in a custody dispute. The matter was complicated...

Attend Court At Your Own Risk

Posted on May 05, 2009
The Tennessee Court of the Judiciary imposed two public censures of a general sessions judge. One matter involved the judge's order that a citizen observer of court proceedings be taken into custody and forced to submit to a drug test....

Breach Of Trust Draws Permanent Disbarment

Posted on May 05, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio today permanently disbarred attorney Justin Peter Parrish of Rocky River for multiple violations of state attorney discipline rules arising from his misappropriation of funds from a...

Photography Judge

Posted on May 05, 2009
An opinion from the Massachusetts Committee on Judicial Ethics deals with the propriety of a judge who is a landscape photographer to pursue his avocation: From your description of what you intend to do, your periodic donation or sale of...

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